Even Paul Heyman had to shake The Ruler's hand after he beat Brock Lesnar

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https://youtu.be/ s-zBy8AVdPA - Even Paul Heyman had to shake The Ruler's hand after he beat Brock Lesnar

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Will we Ever See Brock Lesnar in a WWE Ring Ever Again? Doubt Exists

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10140857-hot-take-well-never-see-brock-lesnar-in-a-wwe-ring-ever-again 

Worst Raw After WrestleMania in Years, Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes, More WWE Takes

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https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10071128-worst-raw-after-wrestlemania-in-years-brock-lesnar-vs-cody-rhodes-more-wwe-takes - Worst Raw After WrestleMania in Years, Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes, More WWE Takes

The Hottest Wrestling Storylines of the Week

The Hottest Wrestling Storylines of the Week

Some Predictions

Predicting Future Feuds for Brock Lesnar After Roman Reigns

Brock to AEW?

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Some Funny Stuff

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And this is what The Rock was referring to when he said, "No, not cookie puss."

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BL v HHH in 2013

Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H from Extreme Rules 2013 Must Mark End of Intense Feud

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Rollins Never Should Have Gotten In There in the First Place

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Missed

WWE Blows It by Having Brock Lesnar Cash in on Seth Rollins, Not Kofi Kingston

As I Was Watching WWE Raw

I really could be a WWE Creative Writer because I could write more interesting story lines than what I saw last night. As I watched WWE Raw last night and saw the opening segment - nicely summarized in this article - https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2786388-wwe-raw-results-winners-grades-reaction-and-highlights-from-july-16 - I knew what was to come. From that article is this summary of the opening segment, but I made each wrestler a list item in an ordered list to make it easier to read:

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1. Bobby Lashley interrupted the proceedings and said he accomplished his first goal of beating Roman Reigns at Extreme Rules and now wants to accomplish part two by beating Lesnar at SummerSlam.
2. Drew McIntyre interrupted and said phase one of his return was ensuring the Intercontinental Championship remained around the waist of Dolph Ziggler and now he wants to accomplish phase two: win the Universal Championship.
3. Seth Rollins interrupted and came face-to-face with McIntyre before announcing his candidacy for a match with Lesnar.
4. Elias was out next, as the stream of Superstars continued. He touted his debut album as the reason he should face Lesnar at SummerSlam.
5. Finn Balor, who used his status as the first universal champion to cement his claim as a legitimate contender.
6. Roman Reigns interrupted, the last man to enter the squared circle, drawing a huge chorus of boos.

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I saw those 6 wrestlers, each claiming to be better than the other 5. I knew, before he said it, that Kurt Angle was going to assign those 6 wrestlers to a bracket of matches with the ultimate winner facing Brock Lesnar @ SummerSlam in August. I didn't predict triple threat matches, but that is what Angle announced: 2 triple threat matches with the winners fighting next week to earn the match with Brock Lesnar @ SummerSlam.

I knew, at that moment, when Angle put Bobby Lashley & Roman Reigns in separate matches, Lashley would win his match & Reigns would win his match and that they would face each other next week.

1. I knew that Drew McIntyre wouldn't win, even though I would have wrote that, as a WWE Creative Writer.
2. I knew that despite being a crowd favorite, Seth Rollins wouldn't win, especially since he wasn't in the same triple threat match as Roman Reigns (WWE likely doesn't want to end The Shield reunion until after Dean Ambrose returns from injury).
3. I knew that despite being a crowd favorite, Elias wouldn't win.
4. I knew that despite being the first Universal Champion, Finn Balor wouldn't win.

I knew it would be Lashley v. Reigns on Monday, July 23, 2018.


I would have wrote the matches differently.

Instead of the Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor vs. Drew McIntyre match,

I would have put Reigns v. Lashley in a singles match, with Reigns winning.
I would have put Drew McIntyre v. Finn Balor in a singles match, with McIntyre winning.
I would have put Elias v. Rollins in a singles match, with Rollins winning.

Then, for next week, I would have put those three winners in a triple threat match. Reigns v. Rollins v. McIntyre in a triple threat match, with Rollins "accidentally" causing Reigns to be pinned by McIntyre. By doing so, you have an opponent for Reigns at SummerSlam in Rollins and you have fresh meat going up against McIntryre, which has never been done before. Then, for the weeks leading up to SummerSlam, on July 30th, I would put McIntryre in a victorious singles match against Reigns. On August 6th, I would put McIntyre in a victorious singles match against Rollins. On August 13th, the final Raw prior to SummerSlam, I would put McIntyre in a victorious singles match against Finn Balor.

In effect, McIntyre would be in a Braun Strowman role of 'rolling' over the wrestlers he had to wrestle to get to where he is alone with each victory building the crowd's engagement.

If the plan is for Lesnar to lose the Universal Championship at SummerSlam, I can fully envision passing the torch to McIntyre. I wouldn't care if both Lesnar & McIntyre are both heels. I would completely capitalize upon the WWE Universe booing last night when Lesnar was not on Raw. By default, McIntyre would become a temporary fan favorite in the weeks leading up to SummerSlam. Even if you allow Lesnar to defeat McIntyre at SummerSlam, I would have Strowman cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and pin Lesnar. That would allow Lesnar to walk out of WWE - if he's going to in fact leave WWE for UFC - as a Beast that was slayed by a Monster (Strowman), all the while building up McIntyre as the one to take down Strowman at the next PPV.

I think doing all of that would require a full-scale "all in" bet on McIntyre. I like McIntyre's character, especially when he talked about why he returned to WWE, which was to effect change. It all meshes into the same narrative (storyline) of being new blood and 'shaking things up.' Instead of the heavily booed Reigns being shoved down our throats as much as John Cena was, it actually would be proof that the future is unwritten.

As the current setup goes, with the Reigns v. Lashley winner fighting Lesnar at SummerSlam, my problem is that Reigns has done that dance before with Lesnar. Riegns didn't win over the crowd. He was consistently booed. I am not convinced that Lashley can carry a feud with Lesnar as he is unconvincing on the mic. His promos during his feud with Sami Zayn were terrible. As currently booked, if Lashley is to really defeat Lesnar at SummerSlam, Lashley should then be paired with Paul Heyman, who could be shown as being a businessman and doing what's "best for business." You could even throw a sub-plot of Heyman being told to work with Lashley by Stephanie McMahon or Triple H, depending upon if either are wanting to be on-screen in the future.

Once again, being a WWE Creative Writer would be an awesome job, but because I know it requires a lot of travel, I do not envision myself applying for it in my future.

Royal Rumble Results

The 2016 of the WWE PPV Royal Rumble was Sunday night. As usual, the Monday night after a PPV is typically a good Raw episode. Last night's will be remembered for the following:

1. Spoiler alert, Triple H won the Royal Rumble so he is now the WWE Champion. He goes on to Wrestlemania to face someone. Vince McMahon, his daughter Stephanie, and Triple H came out to start the episode and announced that the they (the stable known as "The Authority") would evaluate all of the wrestlers and then decide who will be in the next PPV (Fastlane) main event and that that winner would go on to Wrestlemania to face Triple H. 
2. AJ Styles, who I enjoyed watching in TNA and Ring of Honor, fought Chris Jericho. It was Styles' first ever Raw match. Styles won, which is good. Jericho is a part-time wrestler and probably only going to be on Raw as long as it takes for Fozzy, his heavy metal band, to be ready to record another album. I will say, though, Styles looked a bit rusty in the ring. I don't think there was good chemistry between the two. The camera showed Jericho calling out the next move during the match, which is bad. That said, there were a couple of moves that impressed me based upon the decades I have watched hundreds of pro wrestling matches. The best was when Styles was in the Walls of Jericho submission move (which must really hurt as Styles' body was bent in a way that I could never be bent) and crawled across the ring to break the hold instead of tapping out. A jaded viewer like me never  sincerely thought Jericho was going to get the victory against Styles, especially since Styles probably required a good sum of money. What would have been interesting would be to have Bubba Ray Dudley, who Styles fought in TNA, come out and either congratulate or beat down Styles after the match. Instead, Styles offered Jericho a handshake - which is what the wrestlers in Ring of Honor do before a match - which Jericho reluctantly accepted. It would be interesting to see Styles / Jericho become tag team partners with an eventual betrayal by Styles to make Jericho the face and Styles the heel.
3. The Rock showed up and wow, he's entertaining. As he was doing his promo, he noticed some fans dressed up as other professional wrestlers - The Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and Macho Man Randy Savage - and said, into the microphone, "This is where we leave the script." It was an impromptu move and the Rock, charismatic as ever, pulled off the segment. When the New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) came out to interrupt him, he asked why they were the tag team champions when they had llama penises on their forehead. The crowd ate it up and started chanting, "llama penis!" It was genuinely funny. The Rock stated that he would be at Wrestlemania and, when he said that, the thought flashed in my mind that Triple H and The Rock had an uneasy promo a while back about who won more matches between them. I thought it was going to be a setup for The Rock v. Triple H at Wrestlemania.
4. For the main event, it was Roman Reigns / Dean Ambrose v. Sheamus / Rusev in a tag team match. Reigns / Ambrose were referred to as "brothers in arms" by the WWE announcers a couple of times during the match. After Reigns got the win, I sincerely thought that The Authority would put Reigns v. Ambrose in the Fastlane main event as a way to screw with Reigns even more. Instead, The Authority announced that the Fastlane main event would be a triple threat match, announcing that it would be Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and -- here's where I thought they would name Sheamus -- Brock Lesnar. After the announcement, the camera focused on the reaction from Reigns & Ambrose because, now, they have to fight each other for the chance to face Triple H at Wrestlemania 32. Even though we've seen the "friends fighting friends" angle before, I'm predicting the WWE announcers will follow the storyline that in order to fight Triple H, Reigns not only has to fight Lesnar, an enemy, but also his friend, Ambrose. I must say, the way WWE pulls this angle off will be very interesting.